The team is the Marquette men's tennis team.

The team certainly does not have the fan base or national exposure of a certain other Marquette squad.,”A close knit group of players led by a hungry young coach have their eyes set on bringing a Big East title home to Marquette.

The team is the Marquette men's tennis team.

The team certainly does not have the fan base or national exposure of a certain other Marquette squad. As thousands of students packed the Bradley Center on Saturday to watch the then No. 11-ranked men's basketball team best the Blue Demons of DePaul, only a scattering of onlookers — mostly family and friends of the players — watched the men's tennis team dismantle Western Illinois and Chicago State in a doubleheader at the Helfaer Tennis Stadium.

What the team lacks in glamour, however, it makes up in drive. The Golden Eagles are a perfect 4-0 heading into tonight's contest against the No. 31-ranked Wisconsin Badgers. The team has yet to drop a set in singles competition and is undefeated in doubles play.

Senior Trent Hagan, who notched a pair of wins at No. 1 singles this season, said the closeness of this year's squad has contributed to its success.

"Every team I've played for has been close, but this team is very close with each other," Hagan said. "We depend on each other a lot. It's fun to play for a team like this."

The men's tennis program is in its sixth season under the stewardship of coach Steve Rodecap. He is coming off three consecutive winning seasons, including a 17-7 record and a fifth-place finish at the Big East Conference Championships last season.

This season, Rodecap thinks his team is capable of finishing atop the 16-team conference.

"I feel that we definitely have the tools to do that," he said. "The good thing about this group is that they all work really hard and we all aspire for the same goals. We're going to compete really well and try to get better every day that we're out there."

Rodecap acknowledges that while the team is playing well, the true challenges lay ahead.

"We've got a few tough matches coming up and we think we're ready," he said. "That's why we play these (early) matches, just to kind of get into the flow of things, and we're off to a good start."

Stephen Shao joins Hagan as the only other senior on this year's squad. Shao, who notched wins at No. 1 doubles versus Western Illinois and No. 4 singles against Chicago State, says he considers a Big East Championship a "very reachable goal."

"This is the best team I've been on at Marquette hands down," Shao said.

The Golden Eagles face Wisconsin tonight at 6 p.m. at the Helfaer Tennis Center.

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